2nd BeachFest doubles crowd at Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor

Sand sculptor Greg Grady of New Hampshire works on his beehive-inspired creation July 26, 2014, at BeachFest at Headlands Beach State Park.

In contrast to last year’s rainy inaugural event, thousands of visitors gathered under sunny skies at Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor for BeachFest.
Rain moved into the area later in the evening, but the first six hours or so of the event were warm and dry.
In 2013 about 3,000 people attended the event despite the poor weather, said Andy Spiesman, acting public information officer for Mentor.
“This year, it’s easily doubled,” he said. “We went through 500 kids’ sand buckets in an hour.”
Spiesman said the event was created to highlight the region’s greatest natural resource in Lake Erie and to help bring more people to the county’s most popular tourist attraction in the beach.
Nearly a dozen attractions littered the beach, including kite flying, children’s games, face painting, inflatable bumper balls, fire dancers, a multicultural dance group from Andrews Osborne Academy and live music. Kayaks, paddle boards, a windsurf simulator, jet ski demo and a regatta utilized the lake.
The paved path lining the south side of the beach was home to more than 20 vendors, selling items including wind chimes, driftwood art, clothes, kites and nature photography. Radio stations Cougar 93.7, Mix 97.1 and Magic 102.5 also broadcast from the event. Kettle corn, fruit smoothies and a taco food truck helped quench thirst and quell hunger.
One of the biggest draws of the event was Ohio’s first Master Sand Sculpting Competition.
Three world class sculptors created three large art pieces. Carl Jara from Lyndhurst made a large “thumbs up,” Greg Grady from New Hampshire created a beehive and Suzanna Altamare fashioned a beach-themed sculpture featuring a dolphin, sea turtle and sting ray.
Jara, who was the lone sand sculptor at last year’s BeachFest, said he shoveled sand on Thursday and spent a total of about 18 hours on the creation.
Jara did not plan on creating a large thumb, but said sometimes you need to have a sense of humor.
“I shoveled it in, and that’s what it looked like to me, so that’s what it became,” he said.
Jara joked that he decided to become a sand sculptor because he liked the idea of getting paid to go on vacation and be on the beach.
“I thought that sounded like a hell of a good scam, so I went a long with it,” Jara said.
Festival attendees had the opportunity to vote on which sculpture they liked the most by placing plastic chips in bins for each creation.
Jara, who said he has travelled to 15 countries, four continents and 38 states for his career, hopes that BeachFest continues to grow into an even larger sand sculpting competition.
“It’d be wonderful to have a dozen sculptors,” he said.

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